Human Capital or Cultural Capital?: Ethnicity and Poverty Groups in an Urban School District

Social Institutions and Social Change

by George Farkas

This study seeks to reorient our understanding of the early educational determinants of social stratification outcomes. It focuses on the process and consequences of unequal cognitive skill attainment for ethnic and poverty groups within our nation's cities. It draws, theoretically, on the notion that experiences at home and school create a feedback loop by which the "cultural capital" of the students (their toolkit of skills, habits, and styles with which they construct strategies of action) evolves over time and largely determines differential success in mastering the teacher-assigned homework.

232 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1996